Jacquard mechanism for looms.



L. W. BRANDER & C. U. SURNER. JACQUARD MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED 0CT.3.19I4.

2 SHEETSSHEET l.

INVENTORS 37 J0 fwcla {3mm 3 WITNESSES I 6 BY Q) COLUMBIA PMNOGRAPH CO" WASHINGTON, D. C-

L. W. BRANDER & C. U. SURNER.

JACQUARD MECHANISM FOR LOOMS. APPLICATION FILED 0CT.3. 1914.

1 1 58,782. Patented Nov. 2, 1915.

2 $HEET$-SHEET 2- WITNESSES :OLUIUIIA Hm?" CO.,'IASUINGTON. D. c.

LEWIS wgizanivnnn AND CHARLES U. sonnnn, F conconn, NORTH cnnomnn; sen) SURNER ASSIGNOR T0 SAID BRANDER.

JACQUARD MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2, 1915.

Application filed. October 3, 1914. Serial No. 864,748.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, Lnwis WV. BRANDER and CHARLES U. SURNEI citizens of the United States, and residents of Concord, county of Gabarrus, and State of North Carolina, have invented an Improvement in Jacquard Mechanism for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to jacquard mechanism for looms, and consists of certain improvements which are fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawingswhich form a part thereof.

The invention has as one object to provide 7 a jacquard head wherein each hook is separately connected to certain threads of the harness for governing certain warp ends whereby the neck cord, or connection between each hook and its harness, is main tained under tension for the purpose of minimizing the wear and obviating constant replacement of neck cords.

It has as a further object to provide a construction wherein the level of the warp is maintained substantially uniform and the tension upon the warp equalized.

It has'as a further object to provide a harness movement which affords a full open. shed at predetermined times and by means of which the tension upon the warp is materially lessened whereby in the operation of the head the number of broken warp ends is greatly reduced in the cycle of operations.

It has as a further object to provide a construction wherein an increased number of hooks may be employed as compared to prior jacquard heads of substantially the same size, thereby reducing the number of cards while correspondingly increasing the field and scope of design.

It has for a further object to provide a jacquard mechanism, the cards of which operate substantially simultaneously in pairs, eachpair representing together one pick of the weft, so that in punching the cards one card is punched to form one portion of the pick and another card the remaining por tion of the same pick;

Referring to the drawings :Figure 1 represents a diagrammatic sectional elevation of a jacquard head embodying our invention;' Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of the head and certain of its operating adjuncts; Fig. 3 represents a plan of the stationary frame for supporting the needle rack; Fig. 4 represents diagrammatically the warp slidv in operative position; Fig. 5 represents a perspective of a portion of the movable grate which forms a support for the hooks; Fig. 6 represents a perspective I of a modified form of griff frame; and Fig. 7 represents a detail of one of the supports for the brace rack for the needles.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts.

1 designates the head frame of a jacquard mechanism embodying our invention and in the present instance is the usual type of head for a double cylinder, double lift machine which we have preferred to employ as the foundation about which the construction of our invention is formed.

2 and 3 designate respectively the cylinders about which the cards 4 pass in the usual rnanner, and each cylinder is connect- 7 ed at its ends to the movable rods 5 which are guided in suitable lugs 6 of the frame and serve to move the cylinders toward and away from the cylinder plates 7, these latter supporting the outer ends of the sets of needles 8. In the present construction the two cylinders are brought into operative relation in close proximity to the cylinder plates simultaneously instead of alternately as is the ordinary practice in a double lift machine, and the mechanism for actuating the cylinders consists of a pair of arms 9 for each cylinder and which are so shaped as to form a cam guideway for the respective cam rollers 10. The cam rollers 10 are carried respectively by the arms 11, which in turn are fixed in any suitable manner to the reciprocable plunger rods 12 and 13. These rods are mounted in pairs for sliding movement in apertured brackets or bearing lugs 14 of theframe 1 and receive their movement through mechanism which will be later described. It will be understood that there is a plunger rod 12 at each side of the machine which is not only connected to the adjacent arm 11 but is also fixed to a sleeve or lug of the part 15 of the upper griff frame. In a similar manner there is a plunger rod 13 at each side of the machine, said rods being fixed respectively to the lower movable part 16 of the upper griif frame.

17 designates pins corresponding in nurrr her to the arms 11, one being secured to each arm and extending laterally to receive and form a pivot for a socket member 18, each of which has threaded connection with a rod 19, the outer ends of which are threaded into a head 20. Thus at each side of the machine there is one head connected to two of the rods 19, while the heads in turn are pivoted respectively to the ends of the bifurcated beam lever 21. This lever 21 is fulcrumed at 22 upon a suitable support 23 and receives its motion through the long arm 25% driven by a crank or like motion from a suit able part of the loom mechanism.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that a rocking movement of the beam 21 causes both parts 15 and 16 of the upper griif frame to be simultaneously raised or simultaneously lowered according to the direction of movement of the beam and thereby moves all of the knives 25 and 26 of the upper griff frame simultaneously and in the same direction. These knives or grifis serve as supports and carriers for the hooks 27, and each hook is controlled by a needle 8 in the well known manner. The lower ends of the hooks passrespectively through slots or apertures 28 of the grate or auxiliary griff frame 29, and are reversely turned to form a hook 30 at the lower end which is adapted to seat upon the transverse supports 31 of the grate, this construction being well understood to those skilled in the art. The grate or auxiliary griif frame 29 in the present instance is formed in sect-ions, all of which are held by the end plates 32, which are clamped together by the bolts 33 or like securing means. By forming the grate in sections it is a comparatively easy matter to replace a broken section as it is unnecessary in this construction to disturb the entire tieup as is required where an entire grate must be replaced.

As here shown, the grate or auxiliary griff frame 29 is movably mounted within the frame 1 in such a manner that it is free to reciprocate and therefore forms a movable support for the lower extremities of the hooks 27, the arrangement being such that the grate movesdown while the grifl' frames are moving up and vice versa. Consequently those hooks which are not called up by the cards for a pick are lowered with the grate. In this connection it will benoted that the weight of the harness 55% and the lingoes 85 is suflicient to drop the hooks by gravity as the grate moves downwardly. In order to cause the proper movement of the grate or auxiliary griif frame 29 in timed relation with the movable griff frames, we have provided at each side of the grate a sleeve36 fixed thereto in any" suitable manner and that rocking movement of the beam 21 will cause the upper and lower grifi" frames to besimultaneously reciprocated in unison while the grate 29 will be reciprocated oppositely, thus causing certain of the hooks to be raised while the remaining hooks are lowered so that the opening of. the shed is formed by certain of the warp ends being raised while the remaining warp ends are lowered. For example, .in the ordinary jacquard mechanism the open shed is formed by raising certainof the warp ends,while the others remain fixed, thus necessitating the warp being raised, say four'inche's for a four inch opening, while in our invention for such an opening the warp is raised only two inches at one side of the level and lowered two inches at the opposite side, thereby giving the full four inclr opening witha material reduction in. the tension upon the warp ends. In other words, the strain upon the warp ends is equalized by lowering a portion of the warp ends, while the other part is raised, and as a result the breakage of the ends is reduced to a minimum. 2

In view of the fact that the grate or auxiliary griff frame 29 is a movable structure instead of a fixed one as in" the ordinary jacquard head, itwill be obvious that some means for supporting the needles are neces sary since the ordinary support is mounted upon the usual fixed grate. In the present instance, therefore, we have provided a frame 12 which is fixed to the head 1 in a plane removed from the path of movement of the grate or auxiliary grifif frame 29, and to this frame there is secured the apertured uprights 1-3 which serve to support the together to form the shed for one pick. In

other words, a portion of the pick is punched on one card, and the remaining portion upon the other card, with the result that a simultaneous positioning of the two cards determines the hooks which are to be called up for one pick of the weft. Another'resultof V controlling each hook by a separate needle is that substantially twice thenumber of .nee-

dles may be used in the weaving operation,

thereby giving a wide latitude of design-and further permitting each hook to control but 110 transverse wires e l forming braces for the two threads of the harness, This latter tieup gives the widest possible range in the design of the cloth and the arrangement and variation of the design is only limited by the width of the goods.

By reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will further be noted that the neck cords are connected respectively to the hooks, namely one neck cord to each hook, and in this construction the neck cord is'always maintained under tension and is not supject to the frictional wear which isan incident of a neck cord looped and controlled by two hooks, which is the construction ememployed in the majority of present-day j acquard machines. 7

In Fig. 6 we have shown a modified form of upper griff frame wherein 4:6 designates the frame forming a support for a plurality of V-shaped griffs or knives, so that each \fl-knife is adapted to govern double the number of hooks controlled by either of the frame parts 15 or 16. In this arrangement one of the frame parts, as 16, may be dispensed with entirely since one side of the V-shaped knife 47 corresponds to a knife on the frame part 16 and takes care of the hooks controlled by the knives 26 of the upper griff frame operated thereby. The use of this frame e6 d es not vary or change the operation of our invention but contributes to simplification of construction. In other words, the knives 25 and 26 of the upper griff frame may be in one unitary structure.

In Fig. 4 the; line 02-00 represents the normal level of the warp ends while the line 6 represents the warp raised by the hooks which are called up, and c the, warp ends lowered by the movable grate. This illustrates the formation of the shed opening and as here shown the two sets of warp ends move substantially the same distance, one set being distance a above the level and the other set distance a below the level. Of course, it will be understood that we are not to be limited to this exact proportional movement as obviously the opening may be varied and the relative movements of the grit? frame and grate varied.

The operation of the jacquard head is as follows :As soon as the machine is started the card cylinders 2 and 3 are simultaneously advanced toward the head frame and each presents a card to the respective sets of needles 8. Asthese cards together determine the hooks which are to be called up. for that particular pick of the weft, certain of the hooks, normally supported by each of the frames 15 and 16 moving as a unit, will be removed from the path of movement of the griffs or knives, while those remaining will control the lifting of the required warp end.

It will be noted that the aforesaid cylinders2 and 3 are reciprocate-d toward and away from the frame 1 through the medium of the cam members 9,, which are controlled by the raising and lowering of the arms 11, these latter being'actuated by the rocking of the beam 21 and its connections. Since the plunger rod 12 has a fixed connection with the frame 15, and the plunger rod 18 has fixed connection with the frame 16, these two frames, together with the griif knives 25 and 26, will be simultaneously raised and lowered, as a unit and together constituting the upper griff frame, thus bringing up those hooks which remain in the path of the knives, as will be apparent. The reciprocation of the beam 21 in the present instance is also utilized to reciprocate the grate or auxiliary griff frame 29 in such a manner that those hooks 27 which have been removed from the knives are lowered with the grate or auxiliary griff frame 29 at the same time that the upper grifi' frame structure raises the hooks called up b the cards. The result of this movement is to raise certain of the warp ends and lower the remaining warp ends so that the shed opening is formedof the required size but without undue tension upon the raised ends. In other words the tension upon the warp is equalized and the tendency of the ends to break during the operation of the loom is lessened to such an extent as to be practically negligible. In fact it has been found in practice in the operation of our invention, that the breakage of warp ends is such an inconsiderable factor as to greatly increase the number of looms which can be taken care of by a single operator.

A further and very important feature of our invention resides in utilizing a tieup for the harness wherein each hook independently controls its neck cord, in consequence of which the wear upon the neck cords is substantially uniform, so that the level of the warp, having been once established initially, remains practically constant throughout the operation of the loom. The resulting product is, therefore, finer in quality, texture and appearance, and entirely free from defective portions caused in the ordinary loom by differences in the level of the warp. These differences in the level, it will be understood, are caused by the unequal stretching of new neck cords with respect to those which have been in use for some time. In our present invention, therefore, it will be apparent that the harness is all practically the same age as distinguished from repaired harness which has new neck cords in place of those worn out by looping and friction.

- It will further be apparent by employing our present tie-up with the harness of each book passing through holes in the same longitudinal row of comber board, that it is possible to employ all cards interchangeably without rearranging or changing the tieup' with its consequent loss of time.

It will now be apparent that we have de-- viseda novel and useful construction which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable, andwhile we have in the present instance shown and described the preferred embodiment thereof which has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that we do not restrict ourselves to the details, as the same are susceptible of modification in various particulars Without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is I 1 In a jacquard mechanism for looms, the combination of a plurality of hooks for con trolling the warps, an upper movable griif frame and an auxiliary griff frame each of which is adapted to support all of the hooks,

; and latter of which is adapted to lower any ated, one-half of said needles arranged to control one-half of the hooks, and the other half of theneedles arranged to control the remaining half of the hooks, and two sets of cards respectively adapted to the card cylinders.

2. In a jacquard mechanism for looms, the combination of a plurality of hooks for controlling the warps certain of which have booked ends pointing in one direction and the remainder having hooked ends pointing in the opposite direction, an uppermovable grifi' frame and a lower auxiliary griff frame, each of which is adapted to support all of'the hooks and the latter of which is adapted to lower any or all of the hooks, the former of said griff frames having a plurality of blades a portion of which are operatively arranged to act in one direction and the remaining portion in the opposite direction and respectively adapted to engage the oppositely pointed hooked ends of the hooks, means for moving the two grifi frames sivmultaneously in opposite directions and to substantially the same extent whereby at every reciprocation of said griff frames all of the hooks are operated, certain being raised and the remainder lowered, two reciprocable card cylinders rotatably mounted at opposite sides of the hooks and griff frames, two sets of needles respectively controlled by the cylinders and their cards ophooks, means for reciprocating the griff 7 frames simultaneously in opposite directions, needles and card mechanism for controlling the engagement ofthe hooks with the upper griff frame, a plurality of warps,

and harness for connecting warps in pairs to each of the hooks.

4. In a jacquard mechanism for looms, the combination of a plurality of hooks, a lower auxiliarygriff frame adapted to raise and lower all of the hooks, an upper griff frame also adapted to raise and lower all of the hooks, means for reciprocating the griff frames simultaneously in opposite directions, needles and card mechanism for con trolling the engagement of the hooks with the upper griff frame, a-plurality of warps, a neck cord extendingdownward from'each hook fora distance greater than the maximum distance to which the hooks are raised and lowered, and harness for connecting warps in pairs to each of the hooks through the neck cord. r

5. In a jacquard mechanism for looms, the combination of a pluralityof hooks, a lower auxiliary griff frame adapted to raise and lower all of the hooks, an upper griif frame also adapted to raise and lower all of the hooks, means for reciprocating the grifl' frames simultaneously in opposite directions, needles and card mechanism for controlling the engagement of the hooks with the upper griff frame, a plurality of warps, a neck cord extending downward from each hook for a distance greater than the maximum distance to which the hooks are raised and lowered, and harness for connecting widely separated warps in pairsto eachof the hooks through the neck cord, whereby the harness cords cross from each warp to the neck cord to make an angle with each other which prevents the cords from excessive contacting.

6. In a jacquard mechanism for looms, the combination of a plurality of hooks, a lower auxiliary griff frame adapted to raise and lower all of the hooks, an upper griff frame also adapted to raise and lower all of the hooks, means for reciprocating the grit? frames simultaneously in opposite directions, needles and card mechanism for controlling the engagement of the hooks with the upper griff frame, a plurality of warps, and harness for connecting pairs of warps separated a distance apart equal to or greater than one half the width of the warp shed in the direction of the width of the fabric, said harness for each pair of warps connected at its top to one of the hooks whereby the harness cords cross each other at considerable angles.

7. In a jacquard mechanism, a griff frame, a plurality of hooks operatively mounted with respect thereto and all of said hooks adapted to be raised thereby, a supporting frame for the hooksseparate from the griif frame and also adapted to support all of the hooks, means for simultaneously reciprocating the griff frame and the support for the hooks in opposite directions, and two sets of needles one set arranged to control one half of the hooks in respect to the griff frame and the other set arranged to control the remaining half of the hooks in respect to the same griff frame, separate card cylinders for each set of needles, means to move the card cylinders simultaneously to operate the needles for controlling all of the hooks, and two sets of cards one set of said cards for controlling the needles for one half of the hooks and their warps and the other set for controlling the needles for the other half of the hooks and their warps, and in which the two sets of cards and their needles con trol all of the hooks whereby certain of the hooks are raised by the griff frame and the remainder lowered by the supporting frame.

In testimony of which invention, we hereunto set our hands.

LEWIS XV. BRANDER. CHARLES U. SURNER. Witnesses:

A. G. GOODMAN, H. M. PROPSR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

